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Background & objectives: The spontaneous abortion, loss of the fetus until the twentieth week of pregnancy, is one of the most common medical problems in reproductive age. Approximately 15 to 20 percent of all clinically recognized pregnancies lead to abortion. Failure in pregnancy involves economic costs, physical and mental problems for the family and the society. Recurrent spontaneous abortion is a multifactorial phenomenon and this study analyzed chromosomal abnormalities and the prevalence of consanguineous marriages in parents with recurrent spontaneous abortions in Ardabil province.
Methods: A total of 350 patients with at least two spontaneous abortions were analyzed using GTG-banding cytogenetic technique.
Results:  Parental chromosomal abnormalities were found in 18 cases (10.28% of couples). Most of abnormalities were structural (72.2%). chromosomal aberrations were found in 10 (55.6%) females and 8 (44.4%) males. Translocations were the most common chromosomal abnormalities (55.6 %) diagnosed in this study. Also, there was a significant correlation between recurrent spontaneous abortion due to consanguineous marriage and chromosomal abnormalities (p<0.05).
Conclusion: According to the significant correlation between recurrent spontaneous abortion and chromosomal abnormalities in this study and previous studies, and also the high rate of consanguineous marriages in Ardabil province population, analysis of chromosomal abnormalities is necessary after genetic counseling for both parents with recurrent spontaneous abortions.
Keywords: Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion; Chromosomal Abnormalities; Consanguineous